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Photograph of interior of St. Rita's Church, North Bay, ON, 1927

Photograph of interior of St. Rita's Church, North Bay, ON, 1927.

Luigi Pancaro was a surgeon, trained in Italy. Pancaro immigrated to Canada in 1926, settling in North Bay. It is in this community that he married Lina Butti, in St. Rita's Church, which served the local and mainly Italian neighbourhood.

Pancaro left North Bay in 1930 to study surgical technique at the Mayo Clinic in Minnesota. When he returned, he settled in Sudbury with his wife and family.

Pancaro was a supporter of fascism -- believing it had improved the socioeconomic status of most Italians. On June 10, 1940 he was arrested as a threat to the Canadian state. While interned at Camp Petawawa, he worked at the camp hospital, providing medical care to fellow internees and on occassion to camp guards and officials.

Built in 1913, St. Rita's Church was located within North Bay's Little Italy. In 2012, the church and related properties were sold due to reduced attendance levels and operating costs. The building will likely be repurposed to accomodate residential dwellings.